Thursday, 20 November 2014

How To Avoid Long Wash Days

Wow. It's been a minute since I've had a three-day wash-day but I just finished a marathon session that has left me reeling (albeit with cottony-soft hair).

Day 1: (evening) Prepooed with coconut oil. I decided to do a proper full-head, dry, finger-detangle at the same time since I was already sitting around with obscene amounts of oil in my hair. It ended up being worse than death by a thousand paper cuts as my poor planning meant I hadn't bought something trashy to occupy me and, worse, it was hubby's remote night (long story) so I had to endure hours of 'Deadliest Catch', football and boring intellectual stuff like news. Finally finished and had to go to bed in a shower cap (ran out of cling film) to avoid messing up my pillowcase with my greasy head.

Day 2: (crack of dawn) shampooed with Kinky Curly Come Clean (I love this stuff) and was conditioning when I thought 'heck! why not do a henna gloss'. Since I was too lazy to rinse out the conditioner, I slapped on a shower cap (again), mixed the henna and let it 'cook' while I went about my day.

(evening) Got home SUPER late from dinner with hubs and walked in to the Child having a full-on Terrible Two I-don't-want-to-go-to-sleep tantrum. By the time I wrestled her to bed, I was too tired to rinse out the conditioner so I quickly mixed up my gloss, applied it to my conditioner-laden head (oh the mess!) and went to bed with a shower cap on (yet again!). Dressed my pillowcase in a black t-shirt for extra protection. We had the good linens on!

Day 3: (up before the birds) Rinsed out the henna gloss (surprisingly easy! Must have been the conditioner) then conditioned again while I ran around like a headless chicken gathering ingredients for my DC (including a trip to the supermarket for some kitchen scales because mine packed up). Once again, I spent the whole day in a shower cap (that cap and I, we've seen things). I finally rinsed out the conditioner, DCd, oil rinsed, LCO'd using my new shea mix, The Mandarin Whip, then twisted my hair into 8 chunky two-strand twists.

If I ever see my hair again, it will be too soon. Moral of the story?

1. Don't try to do it all
Doing a prepoo, finger detangle, shampoo, condition, henna and deep condition in one session was just plain madness. The more things you do in a session, the longer it will be. Break it up. Combine processes that work well together, like detangling before shampooing or deep conditioning after a henna treatment.

2. Plan Ahead
Nothing worse than starting your wash day and realising you have to stop because you're out of something or you have somewhere to be. Even worse is having to go to the supermarket/dinner/meet a client with your wet hair under a scarf because whether or not you have your sura ya kazi (game face) on, those drippies will give you away.

3. Use Heat
Some treatments like coconut oil prepoos and henna work better the longer you leave them on but using heat helps speed them up by lifting your cuticles and allowing all that good stuff to penetrate faster. Treatments that benefit from heat: Prepoos, Deep Treatments and Henna. If you don't have a deep conditioning cap or access to a steamer or dryer, try microwaving a damp face towel and applying over your shower cap then wrapping the whole thing in a towel.